"The less I have to think about my booking system, the better."

- Graeme Dodd, Bike Buffs

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It’s Smooth Pedaling for Bike Buffs With Rezdy

Riding around Sydney with Graeme from Bike Buffs is as extraordinary as it is intimate. Having become somewhat of an urban legend, Graeme has taken thousands of travelers on a ride in his 7 years of operation. As a former antiques dealer and a self-declared history junkie, he knows a thing or two about the formation of Sydney and all its secret spots.

His tours cater to everyone. Even if you’re on the unfit side, Graeme can give you an electric bike and relieve you from the misery of having to pedal up and down Sydney’s often hilly terrain. The beauty of touring stunning Sydney on a bike? In just under 5 hours, you get to see and experience what would normally take you more than 2 days walking.

Graeme’s business is a one man operation. There are no employees, associates or assistants. There’s no office either, just a meeting point. And an iPad. Having switched his bookings management to Rezdy a few years ago, Bike Buffs is now 100% online and solely ran from Graeme’s tablet. The automation of the booking process is priceless to a business like his. He was quick to understand his customers’ behaviour change and adapted quickly in order to grow sales and get more people riding.

“In the very beginning, people had to contact me directly to arrange a booking. That’s ok, but it’s not what people want. Once they discover you, read the reviews and make the decision, they don’t want to waste time talking to you. 99% of people just want to make the booking, using a system with which they can do it quickly and efficiently.

That’s what Rezdy made so easy for us – it expedites people to get it done quickly and complete the booking with no hassles. They can leave their details, their age and where they’re coming from, and also their height or special requirements, so I can set the bikes up properly for them before they arrive. Rezdy then sends them confirmation emails or text messages so they remain engaged and alert about the tour. I couldn’t run this business without Internet, and of course, Rezdy. It saves everyone so much time.”

R: What were the main advantages of Rezdy to other platforms when you decided to sign up?

G: Every tour company needs a booking system. I was using one prior to Rezdy, but was constrained and frustrated by its inflexibility. In the meantime, Rezdy kept evolving and improving their platform. Probably the best thing that I’ve experienced after making the switch was the amount of things I was able to change and update myself. It was empowering. For example, if I needed some time off. My business is a family business and if I need a holiday, I can just log into Rezdy, block myself out and make the tour unavailable for that particular weekend. Being able to manage these things independently is a massive advantage for small business owners like myself.

Other than that, it’s seamless. It makes the process so much easier and it’s very cost-effective. You can decide to use different plans depending on the size of your business and how many clients you’re getting on your tour, whether it’s a massive corporation or virtually a one-man family business like mine.

“Rezdy’s very cost-effective. You can decide to use different plans depending on the size of your business and how many clients you’re getting on your tour.”

We’re getting constant reminders that Rezdy is moving at probably at a much faster pace than we can keep up with, because we’re always busy operating our tours. The Rezdy Marketplace is one of those huge advantages every tour operator should be aware of. Trading with agents and resellers is obviously a proven way for us to get more clients, which is what we want. We want more people on our bikes, we want to meet more people and take more people on tours. It helps our bottom line and helps us stay in business.

‘Trading on Rezdy Marketplace is a proven way to fill up our availabilities and take more people on tours. It helps our bottom line and helps us stay in business.’

R: What’s the single biggest reason you would recommend Rezdy to similar businesses?

G: There are a lot of booking systems out there. We get contacted quite a lot to move to other engines, but we stay with Rezdy because the service is outstanding, the back up is excellent. If we’ve got a problem, there’s plenty of support staff and technical staff. There’s always someone there to say, “Let’s sort this out for you.” I’d recommend to any tour business that they give Rezdy a go, because out of all systems Rezdy’s growing at a much faster rate, they’re constantly innovating and adding features. As a tour operator it’s important I know my booking system is keeping up with the times.

‘We get contacted quite a lot to move to other engines, but we stay with Rezdy because the service is outstanding, the back up is excellent.’

The best thing about it is you don’t have to think about it. It does the work for you, so that’s what we want. We don’t want to have to think about it. It integrates well into the website, the call to action is clear, making the booking is easy, and everything works really, really well. The less we have to think about the whole booking system, the better.